De-Vicing Consumer Credit. Envisioning a Future for Credit Cards in 1960s and 1970s Sweden

The paper explores the introduction of credit cards in 1960s and 1970s Sweden as a case of domesticization – both of financial economies and of American innovations – as well as a case of cultural normalisation of consumer credit (cf. Effosse 2014, p.108). Sweden offers an informative example for several reasons. Historical studies of credit cards predominantly discuss the US, often treated as a “credit card nation” (Manning 2000, Mandell 1990; Marron 2009). But using cards for payments is of course not specifically American (Rona Tas & Guseva 2014; Ossandón 2014, Deville 2014), and it was not in the earlier period either. Today Swedes are among the most frequent users of cards in the world (with the debit card dominating over the credit card). Also, Sweden was first in Europe to introduce professional credit card systems as early as in1959. Although influenced by the US, the leading figures of the early Swedish credit card business emphasised the political and social differences and claimed that the distinctive cultural context required other market solutions and marketing strategies. As there were no European models to fall back on in the 1960s, the Swedish case reveals how the early credit card companies were handling the challenge of not only launching but also reshaping a financial product and how they tried to entangle credit cards in existing values and cultural practices while also arguing for a new way of thinking.